From Stephen E. Robinson’s book “Believing Christ”:
Individual Perfection
. . . will I ever be perfect in the sense of being without error, fault or blemish? I mean me separately and individually apart from my covenant perfection-in-Christ? I think the answer is yes. For example, I envision a scene about a million years from now, after we’ve been in the celestial kingdom a very, very long time. I will approach the Savior and say something like, “OK, I finally made it. I have overcome. . . . Now what comes next?” And he will look at me and say, “Hey—that was it! Congratulations! That was the last one. You have finally learned to keep all the commandments all of the time!” And I suppose we’ll invite the neighborhood and have a little “Steve-finally-made-it” party.
But that’s a million years from now, and long after the resurrection of the just. In the meantime my only hope is that Christ will carry me on his shoulders. Between now and then my only hope is the perfection in Christ that he shares with those in the gospel covenant, for that very perfection-in-Christ and nothing else will allow me into the celestial kingdom at the day of judgment.
The Comfort of Knowing
Many years ago Janet and I had a friend who did not understand how grace worked and would frequently say something like this: “Well, I figure my life is about half over, and I’m about half way to the Celestial kingdom, so I’m right on schedule.” One day I asked her, “Judy, what would happen if you died tomorrow, where would you end up in eternity?” Apparently, the thought had never occurred to her. She thought for a moment, then said, “Well, let’s see, half way to the celestial kingdom is . . . mid-terrestrial? That’s not good enough, is it?
No, it’s not good enough. It’s also not the gospel. We need to know that in this covenant relationship we have with the Savior, if we should die tomorrow, we have hope of the celestial kingdom. And that hope is one of the promised blessings of the covenant relationship we have with the Savior: “Let us cheerfully do all the things that lie in our power; and then we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.” (Doctrine and Covenants 123:17, 106:8, Ephesians 3:12.) When we have done what lies in our power, we may have and should have the “utmost assurance” of the salvation of God. Part of the comfort given by the Holy Ghost is knowing that even though I am imperfect, if I die in the covenant, I will still inherit the kingdom of God. In fact, since everyone dies while they are still imperfect, it couldn’t be any other way. Some of the best news of all is that Christ promises us that our mistakes will not be held against us if we will just maintain the covenant relationship throughout our lives. He who cannot lie promises that we will receive the kingdom of God: “Whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at the day when I shall stand to judge the world.” (3 Nephi 27:16) Nephi vouches for us too. He heard the Father’s voice saying, “Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.’ (2 Nephi 31:15.) ~Stephen E. Robinson, Believing Christ (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2019), 184-186 (Dwarsligger edition) continued. . . The Comfort of Knowing II
